Bystander expects to record police brutality, ends up helping officer

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PLANO, Texas – When Andre Harvey saw a police officer taking down a man, he did what’s becoming increasingly common: he whipped out his phone and hit record.

But what the incident captured instead wasn’t the worst aspect of police brutality, but the best example of officers and citizens banding together.

The takedown

Plano, Texas, police Detective Jon Hoffman was sitting at a red light when he saw a man run out of a 7/11 carrying a plastic donation jar full of cash.

Hoffman, dressed in plain clothes but wearing his badge and gun, caught the man and pinned him to the hood of his car.

A struggle ensued and a crowd started gathering.

“The detective has a martial arts background and he later said he thought the suspect must have a martial arts background too because he was able to break away so easily,” Plano Police Department Public Information Officer David Tilley told CNN. “The suspect was also slick with sweat and John just wasn’t able to restrain him.”